


Don't leave me Listy..

by British_CupOfTea



Category: Red Dwarf (UK TV)
Genre: Angst, Best Friends, Caring, Crying, Depression, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Nightmares, Self-Esteem Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:34:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24242134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/British_CupOfTea/pseuds/British_CupOfTea
Summary: Rimmer goes through a low patch and spends days up in the Observatory Tower. Lister comes up to check on him but seems to make problems worse.
Relationships: Dave Lister/Arnold Rimmer
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31





	Don't leave me Listy..

**Author's Note:**

> I should be sleeping but I'M NOT. So screw you sleep! I have nothing better to do and I'm not in the mood to write my Mystrade fic so I decided to write this instead. I'm only on series two of Red Dwarf (I have seen a few other episodes) but I love it already! 
> 
> Enjoy!

Rimmer sat staring into the emptiness they called space. He couldn’t feel anything, just emptiness. That was fine though, he was used to feeling nothing. He rested his head against the railing of the Observatory Tower. A tear rolled down his cheek, disappearing into nothing, he was scared. The thought often dwelled on his mind, what if Lister did manage to replace him with Kochanski? Switch him off and forgetting about him completely? The thought lurked in the back of his mind a lot, occasionally waking him up in the night or triggering a panic attack when he was alone. Christ. How did he get here? He was a disappointment, a failure, a waste of space. He’d been sitting up here for a few hours, it was quiet and peaceful. A wave of anger washed over him and he attempted to smash his fist against the wall, instead it went right through. That was more painful than if he had actually impacted it. He could physically prove he was nothing, just a light trick, behind him he heard footsteps on the metal steps.

“Rimmer?” The Scouse accent was softer than usual. He didn’t reply. He watched in the corner of his eye as Lister sat down next to him. “Rim, you alright? You’ve been really distant in these last few days.”

“I’m fine.” He hissed, finally turning to look at the innocent face next to him.

“But you’re not. I can see that pretty clearly. You’ve been up here for days.”

“No I haven’t!”

“Uh, yes you have.” 

Rimmer looked around the room then back at Lister, “Why didn’t you come get me?! For smegging sake!”

“Calm down! You looked as if you needed the time, alone.” He stared at him sympathetically, he raised a hand and realised it went straight through Rimmer, “why are you on soft light?”

He shrugged, “must’ve accidently knocked myself off of hard light.” Without even out any indication he brushed his shoulder against Lister, signalling he’d ‘switched’ modes.

“Rimmer, you really don’t look well…” He bit his lip and looked down, taking a deep breath he looked back up, “I saw one of your dreams.. In the suite.” 

“You what?!” He held back tears.

“Hey, hey, hey.” Lister rested a hand on Rimmer’s shoulder, “I wish you had spoken to me.”

“There’s nothing to be spoken about.” He replied defensively.

“Rimmer. Not being fed for a week, attempting suicide and not talking to anyone are perfectly good reasons why we need to talk.”

Rimmer winced, he wanted to cry but knew he couldn’t infront of Lister, “it’s nothing. Nothing at all. I was just weak.” 

“Arnold, stop it.” The use of his first name made him flinch, Lister’s expression changed from slightly annoyed back to worried, “I’m sorry--”

“Leave it. Just leave it.” He stood up and walked out of the room. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lister was woken by a whimpering. He groaned and sat up, scanning the room to see where the noise was coming from until he realised where it was coming from. He gripped onto the mattress and leaned off, looking down at Rimmer who was visibly shaking. He let out another cry and violently curled up into a ball. 

“Smeg…” Lister whispered under his breath and he climbed down off of his bunk. Rimmer had stopped throwing himself about and was still curled up whimpering, Lister gently smoothed Rimmer’s arm, trying to relax him.

“Don’t leave me Listy… please... you’re the only one..” He whimpered.

“Shhh, I’m not going anywhere.” He whispered in response,

“They always leave-- don’t go with them, please, please please..” Suddenly, Rimmer sat up straight, his hand went over his mouth and he stifled the sobs that came out. Then he acknowledged Lister, he turned to him and tried to compose himself. 

“Hey, calm down Rim, you’re okay.” He continued to rub Rimmer’s arm.

“I’m-- I’m sorry I woke you.” He tried to sound stern through the sobs.

Lister hoisted himself onto the bed and sat next to Rimmer, “It’s alright Rim. It’s perfectly alright.” 

“You shouldn’t be comforting me--”

“Yes I should. You’re my friend.” Dave cut him off before he could finish the sentence, “and I care about you.”

Rimmer looked at him confused, “care.. care about… care about m-- m-- me?”

“Oh smeg..” Lister couldn’t hold himself back anymore, he pulled Rimmer into a tight hug and cradled him. He could feel Rimmer sob against him, “I’m so sorry…” the words became a mantra as he kept repeating himself over and over again.

“Don’t leave me, Listy.” Rimmer finally managed to say.

“I’m not going to, smegging, leave you,” his own voice wavered slightly, “I promise.”

Rimmer looked up at him and within seconds the pair were kissing. Lister had never realised he had wanted this, Rimmer had always been a bit of a pain but he noticed how self-conscious he was. Whenever Cat or Kryten had teased Rimmer or made fun of him, Rimmer always bit his lip and just tried to laugh it off. He had gotten so low and Lister never once noticed, he felt like a terrible friend but right now he felt redeemed. He brought his hand up to Rimmer’s cheek and gently stroked it with his thumb. The door opened and Cat walked in, looking a mess.

“Will you two shut up? I can hear you--” He stopped mid sentence and shrieked. Rimmer quickly pulled away and opened his mouth about to speak, “You two are DISGUSTING.” Cat frowned.

“What’s going on?” Kryten quickly rushed into the room to see Cat staring at Rimmer and Lister, horrified, “I heard raised voices, is everything alright?”

“Oh hell it’s not!” Cat cried out, “I could hear crying from my room and came to investigate! I came in here and found Goal Post Head with his mouth all over the other one!” 

Kryten gasped, “I’m-- I’m going to go and erase that sentence from my database. Excuse me..” he awkwardly backed out of the room.

“You are ‘NASTAY’.” Cat frowned and followed Kryten. 

“Door..” Lister mumbled and it closed.

“My father would be so disappointed.” Rimmer looked up at him, “He wouldn’t feed me for at least a week.” He gave a sad smile.

Lister lent in and kissed Rimmer again, the pair gripped onto each other and their tongues explored each other’s mouths. When they finally broke apart they were gasping for air.

“You know what, Rim.” Lister gasped.

“What’s that?”

“You’re an absolute smegging smeghead.” 

Rimmer frowned slightly and his brows furrowed. Lister lay down and pulled him next to him so they were facing each other. He leant in close, his lips centimetres apart from Rimmer’s,

“But you’re my favourite smegging smeghead.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies for any grammatical mistakes or if the text itself isn't that great. Kudos and Comments are always welcomed!
> 
> Thank you for reading! :)


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